Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I saw headmaster’s murder.. it saved me from a life of crime
BGT piano man’s stab horror aged 11
A PIANIST hoping to wow Britain’s Got Talent viewers tonight has revealed how the murder of his head teacher Philip Lawrence helped keep him out of trouble.
Tokio Myers was 11 in 1995 when he saw the dad-of-four collapse after being stabbed outside the school gates.
A music teacher then hauled Tokio to safety during the horror. Tokio reckons the distressing scenes and the bond he developed with the teacher in those moments were factors in him staying out of gangs and jail.
He said: “I was in the music room practising and out of nowhere the door was kicked open and my music teacher [Mr Morgan] drags me off the piano stool and carries me out.
“As I was leaving the music room, I see my headmaster coming into the atrium. I see him collapse on to the floor and I see blood.
“My music teacher is covering me, trying to make me not see too much.
“He escorts me out the back of the school and [takes] me to a safe place and says, ‘Go home, go, go’. Ever since that day I feel like me and him have some kind of bond, not just through music but just that moment.”
The Londoner, 32, said Mr Morgan’s influence and music may even have saved his life. Tokio added: “I’ve grown up... on rough estates. Playing piano and having great people around me is what got me through a lot of terrible situations. Having music kept me out of a lot of trouble… protected me from other things – being dead or in jail.
“I’m fortunate I had something to channel my negative energy into in a positive way.” Mr Lawrence, 48, was stabbed protecting a pupil in Maida Vale, North West London.
The killer, Learco Chindamo, was freed in 2010 after 14 years in jail. Tokio won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, joined a band and toured with Amy Winehouse.
He now wants to impress the judges on ITV talent show BGT – and would love Mr Morgan to be tuning in.
Tokio said: “I haven’t spoken to him in a few years but he’s someone that I always think about. He’ll be watching for sure – that would be amazing.”